cooking.nytimes.com

Fastest Pasta With Spinach Sauce

5.0(1648)

The very best pasta is often the simplest. Jack Bishop, the author of “The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook,” has refined his technique for pasta and vegetable sauce to breathtaking efficiency: He cooks the greens with the pasta and adds the seasonings at the last minute. While the pasta is cooking, Mr. Bishop prepares the seasonings. Allow at least a gallon of water to a pound of pasta, because you need a large pot to accommodate the greens and because, if there is too little water, the addition of the greens will slow the cooking too rapidly.

by Mark Bittman

Open original recipe

ItalianDinner, Easy, Quick, Weeknight, Pastas, Main Course

Servings

(3–4)

Total time

25 min

Calories / serving

613 kcal

Ingredients (7)

serves

1 clove garlicgarlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)red-pepper-flakes
About 15 calamata or other olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oiloil
1 pound long pasta, like linguine
1 pound spinach, washed, tough stems removed, roughly choppedspinach
Salt and freshly ground black peppersalt-and-pepper

Instructions (2 steps)

01Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it. Meanwhile, mince the garlic as finely as possible and combine it in the bottom of a warm bowl with the red pepper flakes, olives and olive oil.
02Place the pasta in the pot, and cook until it is nearly done (test it for doneness by tasting). Plunge the spinach into the water, and cook until it wilts, less than a minute. Drain quickly, allowing some water to cling to the pasta, and toss pasta and spinach in the bowl with the garlic and olive mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Pantry check

Data quality

servings.value✓

times.totalMinutes✓

nutrition.calories✓

recipeCuisine✓

recipeCategory✓

rating✓

description✓

image (URL only)✓

Rich recipe — supports nutrition-aware planning.